Breathing
by integral love
Summary: May watches Phil sleep and thinks about the significance of Phil allowing her to do so when she gets a visitor who offers a new point of view.


_In and out._

May watched his chest rise and fall from her perch besides his bed in the dimly lit room he currently used as his quarters. He had asked her to stay, afraid of waking up in front of strange writings again, and so here she was for the fifth night in a row. The small couch was comfortable enough and Phil was sound asleep in front of her but she could not shake the feeling that something was wrong.

_In and out._

His chest rose and fell in a calm rhythm and it reminded her of past missions, of Bahrain and Singapore and Rhodes. They had always had each others backs in and out of the field. She had watched over him more than once after an injury during an operation and he had done the same for her. It might take days or even weeks to get to the core of what was happening to Phil but May did not mind the loss of sleep.

_In and out._

She had thought Simmons' constant vigil by Fitz's side to be foolish at first. The girl was still working hard but spent every free minute by her partner's bedside and even occasionally worked in his room when it was possible. May had berated her for it a few times but ever since she had found out about Phil's nightly ventures she found she understood the girl. May was still better at taking care of herself, or at least she thought she was. She managed to sleep a few hours during the day and a few more after Phil got up so in contrast to Simmons she at least had found a rhythm that allowed her to sleep enough but May knew, when she was in Phil's room at night with him sleeping in front of her, she had the same look on her face as Simmons did whenever she sat besides Fitz.

_In and out._

May folded her arms on the armrest of the couch and rested her head on her forearms. It had been a long day and the warmth combined with Phil's steady breathing slowly lulled her in.

_In and out._

A quiet clicking sound ripped May from her sleep and she sat up with a start expecting Phil to be out of his bed. Instead she found him in his bed still dead to the only thing out of place was a cup filled with steaming tea that sat on the table beside her, other than that everything appeared the same as when she had fallen asleep.  
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

May turned around and found Simmons standing in the doorway. Apparently she had been almost out of the room when May had woken up.  
"That's alright I shouldn't have been asleep anyway. What are you doing here?"  
Belatedly May realised that she might have sounded a bit harsh but the younger woman did either not seem to care or had not noticed the tone of May's voice. Slowly, Simmons walked into the room towards May. The closer Simmons got the better May could see the lines on the girls face, lines that had not been there when the team had arrived at the Playground.

"You've been working so hard today you barely had time to sit down let alone take a break so I thought you might appreciate some tea.", Simmons said with a soft voice and looking at the girl May was not sure whether she spoke like that as to not disturb Phil or because she lacked the energy to speak louder. Instead of further following that train of thought May nodded and took a sip from the cup. She appreciated the sentiment.

"How did you know where I'd be?"  
Simmons had turned towards Phil and was looking at him thoughtfully when she answered, "I saw you here a few nights ago."  
Both Fitz and Simmons had kept odd hours when they had been living on the bus so to find that Simmons still stayed up late came as no surprise. It was a bit worrying though when May thought about the fact that the other woman was usually up eary these days.

"So you thought I'd be here tonight as well. Why?"  
May had to admit that she was honestly curious why Simmons had thought May would be in Phil's room. As far as May knew the bio-chemist knew nothing of Phil's condition.  
For a few moments Simmons said nothing and just continued to look at Coulson. When Simmons finally turned towards May to answer a weary but sincere smile graced Simmons' face.

"He's still breathing."

_In and out._


End file.
